Little Bird

I bought a full bottle of this unsniffed, because I absolutely love black currant and myrrh, especially when mixed together. I don't get any fruit or resins from this scent, though. None at all. And the 'frozen/snow' note isn't as gentle, sweet or slushy as it usually is. In this blend, it's dry, sharp, and soapy - like huffing dryer sheets. It's like a really bad, aggressive, sharp, dry, high pitched, soapy ozone single note...

I want to love this, but it starts off very rough on my skin, and I'm not sure that I even really like the drydown. In the bottle and on me at first, Isidore is sharp and chemical, like hairspray and nailpolish remover. It slowly starts to calm down and goes through a soapy, strange phase that makes me think of dust covered white bars of soap, fruity shampoo, and waxy lipstick with a little cinnamon. It's soapy, dusty, waxy, with sour, tart plum... It's definitely not what I was hoping for when I read the note list and ordered my bottle. The floral is sharp and perfumey, not at all a sweet violet. The plum is more tart and sour than sweet for the first hour. Something goes very soapy and chemical. It doesn't really start sweetening up or settling in for about fifty minutes on me, and then it still has that strange, waxy undertone and something that smells like cheap cinnamon potpourri on my skin. I can't really smell the myrrh, amber or benzoin, and the floral part doesn't really remind me of violet. It's just strange. After the one hour mark, I'm left with a strong, sweet, tart plum and something almost peppery, with sharp, soapy, white floral and undertones of wax and powder.

The note list for this is simple and perfectly accurate. It's exactly what I was hoping for - a creamy, golden, thickly sweet frankincense and myrrh combo. The frankincense takes on an almost lemony brightness in the drydown that makes me think of a sweet lemon curd dessert all soaked in caramel and resins. Almost vanilla-like. Rich, sweet resins at their best. This is exactly how I like my frankincense and myrrh blends - uncomplicated and so sweet & smooth that they're almost a gourmand fragrance. Clement I and Aelian's Phoenix are hoard-worthy for me.

I love Aelian's Phoenix. I've had trouble with most of bpal's chocolate scents going plasticy, waxy, or chemical scented markers smelling on me lately, but this is like milk chocolate truffles dusted in cocoa powder. Decadent, true cocoa sweetened with creamy vanilla. The resins and pepper add this lovely, exotic warmth to the sweetness, and it kind of reminds me of a cocoa-drenched Priala. Cocoa, frankincense, vanilla, amber and pepper are the most noticeable notes on my skin, and this smells so delicious, creamy and sexy. ETA: I loved this when I first got it, but I got rid of all of my bottles recently, because they didn't age well at all for me. A year later, this smells like melting wax, baby oil and a faint smoke, like snuffing out a candle. Dries down like baby oil and melting plastic. This is why you shouldn't hoard the bpals.

This reminds me of bpal's discontinued Dublin perfume oil at first. It's a sweetish, misty pine fragrance that's strongly reminiscent of those tree shaped, pine scented car fresheners. More artificial than realistic smelling on me. It's okay, but I prefer the drydown. After wearing this for about a half hour, a clay-like, dusty, gentle earthiness creeps in and the mix of soft clay and pine reminds me of growing up and being outside in Southern Missouri. After being disappointed in the lack of clay in all of the Crimson Peak fragrances, I was pleasantly surprised at how realistically clay-like this smells on my skin. I also like the transition from misty pine tree to dry, earthy pine... poor unwatered tree.

The name of this fragrance made me laugh out loud when I was first going over the Yule update. I live in Canada, between a bunch of lakes, so winter is all about unmanageable snowdrifts here. I thought that this would just be the lab's snow note as a single note, but I find this to be less slushy/watery and more bracing & peppermint smelling than the usual snow note. It actually reminds me more of the Lick It series than most of the snow scents. The drydown is very much a peppermint candy cane scent on my skin, with a hint of fresh, cold, icy aquatic cologne.

I was leery of trying this one, because I don't like the lab's champagne note, but I don't get any champagne from The Waltz. I'm mostly getting a sour, powdery, slightly salty smelling ambergris, a weak and watery rose note, and baby powdery amber. The drydown is sharp and white musky. Overall, it's a sour, powdery, strangely watery and perfumey smelling scent on my skin. I don't like this one at all.

First on, this is a very light, subtle and soft earth note (like dry potting soil) with a hint of aquatic cologne and lots of spiky, green plants. Almost a sharp, black peppery note to the greenery. Dries down very perfumey, musky and sharp. Sort of like white musk and aquatic cologne with green plants and a hint of dirt. I wish that the earth notes were stronger. The musk doesn't smell like red or blood musk to me at all, but a sharp white musk. A green, musky, sharp scent on my skin. Last wear before I rehome this: Spiky, green, slightly spicy, herbal plants (almost like rose geranium, but no rose tones) with wet dirt and cold, non-soapy aquatic. It starts off very beautiful and well defined, and dries down sort of muddled on my skin. The drydown is musky aquatic, a hint of dirt, and something like sweet, mushy flowers with a hint of powder. It would be a keeper if it kept the green and wet dirt, but it doesn't.

This is a lovely, sexy fragrance, and I can pick out all of the listed notes in it. It kind of reminds me of the original version of Luperci, with its honeyed woods and earthiness. I was worried that the spiced rum would turn to cinnamon, but the spiciness is subtle and more clove-like on me. I get lots of the cedar and honeyed sandalwood, which is very smooth and makes me think of old cedar chests. The sandalwood isn't turning baby powdery on me like it usually does, just smelling very smooth and like an expensive, true sandalwood. The sweet tobacco is earthy and sensual. The honey smells of beeswax more than a true honey, which I am grateful for. The frankincense is golden and sweetly resinous. And everything in it mingles together perfectly. Honeyed, woody, resinous and with hints of earthy tobacco, dark leather and spice. It's very well-blended and I love how smooth this fragrance is.

Pottaskefill is like a more masculine, not as super-sweet Le Pere Fouettard, which is exactly what I was hoping for <3. It smells of a good vanilla and sweet black licorice with the smoothest black leather, a hint of cold snow and evergreen (just a hint, like it's clinging to the leather jacket after coming in from the cold), and a hint of a black peppery cologne (like a whiff of Marc Jacob's Bang cologne is thrown in here).

This is an aggressive, dark, heavy fragrance. The dragon's blood resin smells darker than what I am used to from bpal, and the labdanum rounds it out with a thick, warm, slightly powdery incense. I'm also getting lots of sharp, spicy clove, but not really any of the patchouli. Ketkrokur is a spicy, incensey, resinous dragon's blood. The labdanum offers enough resinous sweetness to make it wearable for me, but I think that I prefer this one on my husband.

This does remind me of Pez candy, as VioletChaos pointed out. It's also very fizzy and sugary on my skin... so like orange pez candy and orange flavored fanta soda. I was hoping for buttered bread and a soft orange marmalade and apricot jam type of scent, but I'm not getting butter or bread at all, and the fruitiness is candy-sweet, heavy, artificial/chemical-y, and strangely fizzy. I'm really disappointed in this scent

Stekkjarstaur smells a lot like the cool, buttery vanilla cream in bpal's Boo, especially when it's first applied. It's like Boo with a bag of marshmallows dumped over it. The drydown is less cream & marshmallow and more a dry, almost musky white sugar scent. It's very sweet on me, to the point of being cloying. A bit too sweet and simple. The staying power on this one is pretty bad as well; it only lasted about twenty minutes total on my skin.

Indulgence reminds me of The Lady on the Grey, as they both were almost a tobacco flower single note on my skin. It smells like sharp laundry soap powder, sharp greenery, and white, smoky floral. Gives me a headache.

Firethorn Berry Tea turns very sour and astringent smelling on my skin. It has a sharp, sour, high pitched red currant and dry, herbal tea leaf smell. It doesn't last long, and isn't sweet enough for my tastes (which definitely makes sense, given its inspiration, but I just don't find it wearable as a perfume).

Crimson smells like a grape-y, powdery, slightly smoky nag champa incense. It smells cheap and headshoppy on me. I can smell the clove in the drydown, but it's sharp and a bit medicinal, so this blend isn't working for me.

The opium/poppy thing is always a bit too sharp and dry (like white smoke, sharp white musk and notebook paper) for my tastes. This blend is like that poppy note with black musk and hints of smoky, charred wood around it. Very heavy, black, musky, smoky and inky smelling on me.

I was hoping for more lilac, but I'm not really getting a noticeable lilac or rose from this. It kind of smells like green flower stems (like the frozen ones in a flortist's fridge) and creamy, white spring floral on my skin. As it dries down, there's a powdery amber, but it still smells like a chilly, clean, floral scent to me. The bergamot is bright, but barely there in the background. This one is nice enough, but not for me.

I've been on the fence about this scent, but it's ultimately going to my swap pile. I want to love the golden, delicately sweet frankincense, but the white florals come in sharp, sour and almost rubbery smelling. The ambergris adds a watery amber-aquatic-salty cologne thing that I don't like with the white floral. The amber quality turns powdery in the drydown. I don't hate this, but I never really find myself wanting to wear it either.

I find Frosted Pumpkin Spice Cookie to be softer and sweeter than the Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcake blend. It smells like gingerbread cookies and cinnamon buns decorated with a frosting made of cream cheese, powdered sugar and a little bit of lemon and vanilla extract. The frosting part is strong and smells absolutely delicious. I really like this blend.

This smells like cream cheese swirled pumpkin bread with a dusting of cinnamon and powdered sugar on top. I love the cheesecake part of it, and wish that my skin didn't amp up cinnamon so much. I'm surprised at the reviews saying this faded quickly, because it's really strong and long lasting on my skin (then again, my skin latches on to spices). Creamy, vanilla-y cheesecake, cinnamon, and cakey goodness.

There's something very nailpolish remover and cheap hairspray about this scent. It's very strange, sharp and chemical. Underneath the sharpness, there's a perfumey, sugary, sickly-sweet, almost berry-ish somehing. I don't think that I'd ever smell this and think apple or candy apple, though. It's like a sugary berry scented hairspray, maybe. I was hoping that this would be more like Sugar-Slathered Candied Apple, Candy Corn Coated Candy Apple, or Creepy. It's not nearly sweet enough for me, though, and the perfumey/sharp/chemical overtones give me a headache.

When I first got my bottle of Apple Cider in the mail, it was way too spicy and sharp, but it seems to have mellowed out after a month. First on, this smells like someone took red fruit punch and filled it up with lots of cinnamon and cider spices. As it dries down, the spices soften and are more sweet and less sharp, and the fruit punch is less tart and smells more & more like real, juicy apples. It starts to remind me of baked apples with a cinnamon sugar glaze (kind of vanilla-y), next to a glass of chilled apple cider. I like how it smells of warm spices and chilled apple at the same time. After an hour, the scent gets a hint of smoky dead leaf to it on my skin for some reason, and it smells so much like an idealized version of autumn. I don't know if I'll keep my bottle, because I have trouble wearing scents this spicy, but I do enjoy the apple and sweetness here. It smells very much like fall.

My favorite of the apple scents. The apple smells like a mix of sweet red apple and clean green apple, sweetened up with tons of coconut cream, toasted coconut, and a woody, almost chocolatey fig note. I love the lab's fig note, and I like how the crisp parts of the apple keep this from going too sweet.

Smells like very sweet, candied red apple shampoo (has that undercurrent of soapiness) and sharp cider spices. I get no black currant or vanilla, and the spiciness doesn't really smell like clove so much as it does a really sharp cinnamon. I like the sweet red apple note a lot, but the sharp spice gives me a headache, and I'm sad that there's no currant or vanilla to be found.